For many people, the increased cost of living remains an issue. While rates of inflation are falling, interest rates remain high, putting continued pressure on budgets. We are aware of the current fragility of the markets and of broader national and international matters that could affect the Plan’s financial position. We continue to monitor the economic landscape in case we need to take proactive action. For an update on the financial position of the Plan, you can refer to our latest Summary Funding Statement, which includes information on the funding position as at 31 December 2023. The positive headline being that both sections of the Plan remain more than 100% funded.
We are delighted to announce that in December the Trustees secured an insurance contract with Pension Insurance Corporation for the Dow Section. You can read more about this in Plan news where we provide an update on the Trustee’s Long Term Strategy, the headline of this is ‘Increasing the security of your benefits’.
Additionally, we provide a summary of the year’s accounts and membership figures as well as the latest on the Plan’s investments.
You can find our usual round-up of news in Plan news. In this issue, we report on changes to the pension tax allowances and the updated Retirement Living Standards, designed to help you assess whether you’re on track to achieve the lifestyle you would like in retirement. We’ve also included reminders on how to stay safe from pension scams along with an update on the Pensions Dashboards Programme.
If you have any questions about the Plan or your benefits that do not appear on the Plan website, or you have a topic you want to see covered in our next issue, please do get in touch.
Andrew Jones
Chair of the Trustee